Duncan's Blog

Sometimes--regardless of how sharp our overall memory might be--we recall certain things in sequence. This is probably most easily understood to/by those who us who spend countless hours with the printed dictionary. (If you're not into dictionaries, you can always look at phone books). There, now you know just how old I am!

in any event, if you're looking for a word or a name you have to know the alphabetical order. Most people who are fluent in English can start the A-B-C from any letter and move forward. It's highly unlikely that a person can move backwards with the same fluidity. Chances are, you'd probably know somehow if the letter that you need is ahead or behind.

Example: Let's say you're searching for the word PRACTICE in the dictionary. You start with P is #16 of 26 letter. You probably know that R is nearby (just two more after P). A is the first letter. As for C, well, it's called A-B-C, right. You kind of get the idea.

Before I was a teen, I was a boy scout and as part of that, I had to learn the scout law which is

"A Scout is:

"TRUSTWORTHY, LOYAL, HELPFUL, FRIENDLY, COURTEOUS, KIND, OBEDIENT, CHEERFUL, THRIFTY,
BRAVE, CLEAN, and REVERENT."

Unlike the alphabet, I have to go back to trustworthy when I rattle off this list. The only other list that comes to mind like that of mindless memorization is the chronological list of the Chinese dynasties. Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin Han, Period of Disunity, Sui, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing

It's like prepping yourself to be a JEOPARDY! contestant.

What's all of this got to do with the subject. Most people I know who have had dogs in their lives have had more than one. I, personally, have only had one and it was inherited by me from a tenant who had died. The dog didn't have what I would call a real name. For whatever strange reason, the owner gave the dog the same name as that of his previous dog. That dog's name was Lucky. Yeah, right, very original. I told him that you can't recycle a dog's name. It's creepy. I thought it was creepy that Maria Theresa of Austria had recycled the names of her children from some that had died.

From Wiki:

Maria Theresa gave birth to sixteen children in nineteen years from 1737 to 1756. Thirteen survived infancy, but only ten survived into adulthood.
The first child, Maria Elisabeth (1737–1740)
Maria Anna
Maria Carolina
Joseph,
Maria Christina,
Maria Elisabeth
Charles
Maria Amalia
Leopold
Maria Carolina (b. & d. 1748).
Maria Johanna
Maria Josepha
Maria Carolina
Ferdinand
Maria Antonia
Maximilian Francis

He was able to talk about his other dogs. Sometimes he would even say which member of the family a dog belonged to "my mother's dog' vs 'my dog'. The dogs all had stories; a personality, a breed or mix, an explanation of how the animal came to join the family. They generally had an elevated status. A child could be mad at a parent or a sibling, but you seldom heard of a child being angry at a dog.

MORE L8R

It started with an email sent to me via bcc from the intern minister.

He said he was looking for people who felt underserved (or who had issues that were not met) based on their affiliation with a group type.

Vaguer he couldn't be! He then said he was looking for single people (didn't care how you became one). You could be never married, divorced, widowed/widowered... Then the bcc disappeared, and he told me about his conversations with Chris and with Cathy.

And then I panicked.

You see, I'm very private about my life. I feel comfortable enough revealing to him as one person whom--I assume--respects privacy. What I thought was going to be a 1:1 interview for a study seemed to be leaning more towards a focus group. Not a pretty picture.

However, I went to the church nonetheless. Seems the intern minister tried reaching me to cancel our appointment. I missed the calls. And I missed the messages. He took me to his office and asked his questions.

Like the way in which he chose his focus group, the questions were vague and open ended. What do you need to live materially? What do you need to live spiritually? What do you lack? Where do you look...

Not sure where he was going. But I answered them.

The only reason I bother with this one is that he is very high energy and his cute-as-a-button eye candy. Looking at him is a pleasant diversion.

I went to Jim and Michelle's wedding. I was the friend of Aunt Linda. Sadly, Aunt Linda had to bring one of her pushier customers who was curious to see what a Jewish wedding to a non-Jewish American would look like. The pushy customer was shocked to hear that there was a dress code. The bride wanted everyone to wear black. That included the bridesmaids as well as the guests. The only one who seemed ecstatic about this choice was the MOB (mother of <the> bride). Mama said that black hid all of the sins.
The pushy client was surprised (he was Iranian). Black? To a wedding? Isn't that the color for funerals here? Yes, it was. But for some reason, in Los Angeles, you are allowed to wear all black or all white without having to have any excuse, rationale, or reason. (Of course, a woman who is still in her birthing years might ask you if she's 'clean' while walking away from you... but that's a story for another time).
I don't quite know when it came up, but we were sitting around the table at Michelle's house in a guard-gated community of Thousand Oaks. It was probably shortly after 09/11 and Michelle knew that I was from New York City. She looked at me and said, "Isn't it amazing the work that President Bush and Mayor Giuliani are doing?" Aunt Linda and I looked at each other. I could see that she was pleading with me not to say anything. I should remind myself, that trips to Michelle and Jim's house had two or three different circles of conversation. The men would be in the living room (talking sports or politics) and the women would be in the kitchen (talking recipes and household cleaners). The boys would usually be up in their room or out by the pool plotting world domination.
"Giuliani," I said, "isn't he a republican?"
"Yes," she replied, beaming, "he certainly is!"
"Oh... okay."

I never said anything more about that topic. Jim (the non-Jewish American) brought republicanism to the house and home. I have no idea what or how it affected Michelle. I think she thought that republican affiliation meant wealth of the personal variety. Democrats were more into pissing away money on charitable things like food programs for the indigent, affordable housing, and clinics for the uninsured.

They are divorced now. Jim lied about their income and blew away money on G*d knows what. Or maybe he cheated on her. Who knows? Michelle wasn't exactly a day at the beach either. Besides, Jim looked prettier than Michelle and that's always good to have around when you've got photo ops going on. They lived in the era when women had big, poofy, blown out hair and Michelle had lots of that to go with her French manicures.

I'll ask her sister, Suzanne, what's up with the party affiliation.

I'm not quite sure what the perfect phrase is.
"The check was never presented for payment."
"The check was never cashed."
"The check was never deposited."

THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR (in-)ACTIONS!

I'm holding a grudge against a friend of mine. His life of chaos is slowly imploding on him and it's his pride or apathy or just plain stupid laziness that is the cause of much of his woe. He laments about money; customers don't pay enough, bills go up, car needs attention. So one day--out of the blue--I sent him a BillPay check for $100. It's one of those thoughtful gestures without s specific reason behind it. Well, that was in June and now it's September. The check has yet to clear.

The problem with BillPay with this credit union is that the money is taken out of my account when the check is written. I have no access to the funds. I have even asked him twice about it. The first time he just said oh yes, thank you. The second time he said that he can't find the check. It's in a pile somewhere.

What I wanted to really ask is, "Who the f**k holds onto a check for more than a day?" I either take it to the bank, run it through the ATM, or even mail it to the bank. This is completely unimaginable to me. I know he needs/could use the money. So why pretend? It just infuriates me when I offer assistance and it gets f**ked up by someone's laziness.

I've had this with him with other money issues. (I'm old fashioned and don't send cash in the mail). I tried sending him funds via ZELLE. It turns out he doesn't subscribe to ZELLE. I don't use any other method. I don't bank at his bank so I can't make a transfer, and I don't use PAYPAL. This will probably be the last time I do this which is--sadly--probably his goal. Sad

Usually shows up at noon time every other Wednesday. Today it popped up at 1600.

My pay is in allotments; one credit union receives funding earlier (on Wednesday) while the other banks and credit unions hold out until Friday. On this particular pay day day, the funds didn't reach the account until late(r) in the day. There is no rhyme or reason for this. Since it is, however, a federal check, it makes a body wonder if the federal government isn't playing games with holding onto money or making folks feel insecure about this or that.

I (and my co-s) will be keeping an eye on it!

.....

Two weeks (and change) later and things are back to normal. Guess it must have been a singular aberration. Still... I will be keeping an eye on it